Stillwater native Denis McDonough, President Obama’s chief of staff, was seen greeting returning federal workers at the White House gates Thursday morning, marking the end of the 16-day federal government shutdown.

McDonough was described by White House press pool reporter Alexis Simendinger of RealClearPolitics “in shirt sleeves and with a No. 2 pencil above his right ear…greeting returning workers shortly after 9 a.m. at the [northwest] guard gate.”

According to Simendinger, the former St. John’s football player “could be heard saying ‘Good Morning!’ in a loud voice, patting the shoulders of workers and exchanging a few cheery remarks.”

A Duluth native who just barely lost Virginia's GOP gubernatorial primary said that politicians have not gone far enough in condemning the left for violence during a rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville. "I think that the left is going to try to use this as an excuse to crack down on conservative free speech," said Corey Stewart. "I think they're going to try to use this as an excuse to remove more historical monuments."